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Re: Please help save VB6

Seems to me, that a programming language would be sorta crippled if it was written for a specific OS. The more generic it is, the more flexible it can be, I'd think. Besides, VB6 can access the windows API, so it can take advantage of functions which might not have existed when it was first developed. Considering that C++ was developed quite a number of years ago as well, and it is still the language of choice for many developers, it stands to reason that VB6 can also live on. Let's not forget that windows itself is written using C++. The only real question regarding VB6 is whether the runtime DLLs might fail to work properly under some future flavor of windows, since Microsoft doesn't seem very willing to ensure operability.

Given that C++ apps rely heavily on the windows API, and that countless C++ apps exist, and continue to be developed, it seem to me that the API has to be maintained for that reason at the very least. So I wonder how VB6 could fail while C++ apps all still run, unless Microsoft intentionally did something to cripple it, which doesn't seem likely either. They just don't want to guarantee it.

However, it's more than just the language. It wouldn't do much good to duplicate the syntax of VB6 in .net, because .net can only produce managed code, which can be decompiled back to usable source code. Commercial developers have enough trouble from pirates already, even without essentially giving away their code.

Last edited by WizBang; January 27th, 2013 at 11:23 AM.

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Re: Please help save VB6

Originally Posted by dglienna

They didn't re-write the controls for the new OS, which is where it started to fail. (FLEXGRID Apps?)

Yeah, I've read about a few bugs regarding the appearance of some controls, especially with "themes" turned on. But Flexgrid isn't an intrinsic VB control anyway, so any trouble specifically with that isn't the fault of the VB runtime. Incidentally, all the controls I developed continue to function perfectly

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Re: Please help save VB6

What can they do for a language that has no concept of modern operating systems? They CHOSE not to be able to upgrade VB6 after VS2008. I suppose they can rewrite .Net to use VB6? Not likely...

I completely disagree with that, respectfully. Any programming language as seen from the programmer's standpoint has nothing to do with the way it is written underneath. That is why QTforBasic can be syntactically identical to vb6, operate the same, yet be totally based on a completely different source and libraries, and it is completely comfortable on Windows, Linux and MAC. MS chose to foist .net on everyone because they lost touch with what 85% of their customers wanted...Simplicity with optional power. Net has the latter, but lacks the former. There is absolutely no way to write code in .net faster than vb6 when just the typing overhead alone is far greater than in vb6. There is a lot of sense in a programming language that has a dual personality...Simplicity for beginners but also for pros who just need to do something really quick and easy with no fuss like having to worry about passed parameters in every procedure..and yet a language that allows the user to tap into the very powerful GDI32 API.

Re: Please help save VB6

Originally Posted by treddie

There is absolutely no way to write code in .net faster than vb6 when just the typing overhead alone is far greater than in vb6.

I would have to completely disagree with that statement. I have used VBDos, 3,4,5,6 and still use VB6. But I have also used VB.Net 2003,2005,2008,2010 and it depends on what you are doing what it entails, at first there was a learning curve that slowed things down a bit but now I find that I can write many things faster in .Net, reuse more code and of course am able to do a lot of things that just can't be done in VB6

Consider that you want to get a list of files from a folder and all sub folders in a given location. In VB6 you can use Dir() and a loop and call that recursively and build your list. You can use the exact same code in VB.Net to do the exact same thing [which btw is the case for many many things] but in vb.net you can do the same thing with a single line of code by using the System.IO classes and if you don;t like the extra typing of adding the System.IO. in front of the statements you can use an Imports System.IO at the top of the class.

The point being that this is one example where you can do something that is fairly complex in VB6 the same way in VB.Net or you can do it a much easier way with less typing and less margin for coding errors and this is just one of hundreds of things this applies to.

Nothing against VB6, it is great and I will keep using it but To say that it is not possible to write code faster in VB.Net just means that you have not used VB.Net very much or have not learned how to use it properly yet.

Re: Please help save VB6

Windows 8 can Suspend, Resume, ANY app with a common api. vb6 can't. What happens when Windows 8 kills your desktop app after 10 minutes? Most would have to re-start and initialize to zero...

If this is accurate as written, then it has nothing to do with VB6 specifically. Rather it is a functionality of the OS, and applies to all win32 apps, including those written in C++, and also to apps written in .net.

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Re: Please help save VB6

Well, your arguments are well stated and in principal I cannot disagree with your opinions. However, there is also no reason why such "one-line" functionalities could not have been added to vb6 in later versions. It's analogous to the GDI32 situation where Bezier curves are supported but not cubic splines. Someone just needed to write the function, not change the "language".

Re: Please help save VB6

Originally Posted by treddie

Well, your arguments are well stated and in principal I cannot disagree with your opinions. However, there is also no reason why such "one-line" functionalities could not have been added to vb6 in later versions.

It was.... It is called VB.Net of course it is not VB6 anymore because VB6 was a single version of Visual Basic namely "Visual Basic Version 6" the next was "Visual Basic Version 7" which adopted the .Net name and added tons of new stuff as well as keeping support for tons of existing stuff.

Yes there were lots of changes between 6 and 7 just like there were lots of changes between 3 and 4 and 5 not to mention the changes when it jumped from Dos to windows.

Yet the VB.Net versions still support most of the actual code that you could have written in VBDos

Re: Please help save VB6

Even with VB.NET there has been a lot of changes as well. If you were to look at how VB.NET 2003 handled databases, and then look at VB.NET 2005, you would see a clear difference.

There are still tons of info add to the VB language ( yes, it is still the Visual Basic language ) and there is a lot of things being dropped off or changed - it is an ongoing process, and it will not change. It doesn't have to just stop.

Look at how Windows and Office has changed. Look at how the technology world is changing. It is obvious that languages should adapt too, isn't it?